The disclosure relates to blends of syndiotactic polystyrene and poly(arylene ether).
Syndiotactic polystyrene has excellent heat and chemical resistance, apparently due to its crystalline morphology. Poly(arylene ether) is highly miscible with syndiotactic polystyrene, however the presence of poly(arylene ether) can compromise the level and rate of syndiotactic polystyrene crystallization. A decrease in crystallinity can in turn decrease both heat and chemical resistance.
Additionally, syndiotactic polystyrene has a small temperature processing window due to the fact that the melt temperature and the degradation temperature are typically only about thirty degrees apart. Attempts have been made to ameliorate the small processing window through the inclusion of additives, particularly flow promoters, to enhance processability of the syndiotactic polystyrene. These additives can decrease some of the desirable physical characteristics of the syndiotactic polystyrene such as chemical resistance, moisture resistance and heat distortion temperature.